High Tc SQUID Based Metallic Contaminant Detection System for Beverage or Ground Meat

A computer controlled contaminant detection system based on high-Tc Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) for a beverage or ground meat has been designed and constructed. There is a strong demand for detection of metallic contaminants in ground meat or juice with pulp because a strainer cannot be applied to such a pulpy liquid. Two identical SQUIDs were employed so that they can keep the sensitivity over the full width of the tube. As a result, we could successfully measure small iron particles in the order of hundreds of microns. This detection level is hard to achieve by a conventional X-ray detection or eddy current methods. We believe that this system is the first practical SQUID based metallic contaminant detector for a beverage.